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Sunday, September 28, 2008

Based on the comments and emails I received since posting again last Friday, I put together the following Q & A. Enjoy!

Q.) Where have you been for the past year and a half?A.) Texas

Q.) What have you been doing for the past year and a half?A.) Trading. And I took up some new hobbies - chess, guitar (early stages), motorcycle riding (I bought my first bike earlier this year).

I have traveled some - NYC, the Pacific Northwest, China, Mexico. I got to see the Yankees play one last time in the old stadium.

Overall I have been enjoying (or trying to enjoy) life.

Q.) Are you planning to blog again full-time?A.) Undecided. I miss blogging, and communicating with [most] others. But I don't miss a lot of the negativity that blogging brings. It is easy to say "just ignore the negative people", but the bottom-line is why do I want them in my life at all? So I have to balance the desire to post and communicate with the negativity I expose myself to by doing so. I think every blogger who posts with consistency and is around for any length of time has to deal with this issue.

Q.) Are you still trading the same methods and style?A.) As with everything in life, my trading has evolved. I still trade the "Trader-X" setups reflected in this blog, but those setups now comprise ~20% of my total trading. My trading evolved not because the setups quit working, but because I grew more impatient and began looking for even easier ways to trade; the setups I detailed on this blog in the past are just as valid as they ever were.

I have migrated to 5-minute charts (I AM NOT advising readers do this...read my post on timeframes written a few years ago and heed the advice/warnings), and I now incorporate standard pivot points into my analysis. I have also delved into the futures market - mainly trading the E-mini NASDAQ contract (this appears to be a well-timed move with the recent restrictions imposed on short-selling).

Overall, my trading has become even MORE simplistic than it was in the past. But the core principles remain - Fibonacci retracements and extensions, candlestick charts, support and resistance. And my results are better than ever - the first half of 2008 was the most profitable six months in my trading career. I tell you this not to try to impress you, but to show that consistency and hard work still yield results.

Q.) Are you voting for Obama?A.) Absolutely.

Q.) What are your favorite movies of 2007?A.) Iron Man and The Dark Knight. If you have not seen Iron Man and you don't buy it when it is released on DVD this coming Tuesday, you are doing yourself a HUGE disservice. Great special effects, great story, and a great performance by one of the best actors of our generation.

9 comments:

As for the negative people, what you could do is install Disqus as the comment application the same way SlopeOfHope and OptionAddict does which also allows voting.

Tim Knight at SlopeOfHope has LOTS of negative people (mainly permabulls whom bash Tim's almost perpetual bearish views). Anyhow with the Disqus commenting system that way when aholes show up you can at least feel slightly better by voting them down as will the rest of the community will do so too.

Cheers and congrats on having a great first half of 2008; hope you'll do even better in the 2nd half of 2008.

I enjoy reading your blog and glad to see you back. Your blog has been so extremely helpful to me and I'm very grateful and appreciate for what you have done. I have been a lot more consistent in my trading and have evolved into trading the 5min. time frame more. I'm a part time trader on my days off and would like to trade full-time, but the current events are making me nervous. I will be looking into the futures market too.Thank you.

Regarding negativity, I am sure negative bloggers that read your blog missed you while you were gone and understood that this blogg was actually very helpful, please continue with your great work, byfar it's the best blog that I know. Also, I would really appreciate if you can discuss and show examples of how your trading changed, what made it easier and more accurate than before.Thanks so much again.Cheers,

Hey X, you being back is the best news in an otherwise crappy September.

Question - you seem to know detailed stats on your trading...win/loss %, what % a setup comprises of your total trading, long vs. short...how do you know those stats? How do you track your trades? Special software, etc.

Hey X! You rock man! I found your blog just a few weeks ago and have been perusing the archives. I live in the Dallas area and ride a Honda ST1300. Let me know if you'd like to meet up for a ride in the Hill Country sometime. Maybe I could absorb some of your trading expertise by osmosis!

DISCLAIMER - I DO NOT MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS TO BUY OR SELL SECURITIES; I JUST POST MY THOUGHTS, TRADES, AND OPINIONS. DO YOUR OWN DUE DILIGENCE - YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR TRADES, INVESTMENTS, AND DECISIONS. ALL CHARTS ARE COURTESY OF REALTICK. ALL TIMES INDICATED ARE NY (EST).